The league has issued comment in response to earlier reports suggesting limitations or an end to Thursday night broadcasts may be under consideration, formally claiming any contradictions regarding commitment to the product are "unfounded."

With mounting criticism of the quality Thursday Night Football, scattered suggestions have emerged in recent weeks that the NFL could pull the plug on the experiment.

The suggestions are stronger than that; per a source with knowledge of the situation, the league will be considering the possibility of ending - or at least limiting - the games, Pro Football Talk reports.

The current contract with CBS (CBS-0.2%) and NBC (CMCSA-0.6%) runs through 2017, which means that changes to the package could be made by 2018 - barring a renegotiation. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) also has a deal to broadcast Thursday Night Football games.

Analyst Daniel Salmon considers CBS fairly valued, to become a "deal stock" regarding prospective Viacom merger and notes several catalysts, including an accelerated buyback, have already been worked through. Would become "fundamentally productive" on shares in the mid-$50s.

AT&T (NYSE:T) has signed a deal with Fox Networks Group (FOX, FOXA) to continue showing its channels across its offerings including its online video service, leaving only CBS as the last major holdout not to have its networks on DirectTV Now.

AT&T has also replied to an FCC inquiry about net neutrality rules, stating its "zero rating" - exempting its streaming video services from data-usage caps - complies with the law and benefits consumers.

Meet the new bundles; same as the old bundles? A report from Digitalsmiths (now a research arm of TiVo) says that in an a la carte scenario for picking TV channels, the most desirable would be ABC, CBS and NBC in that order.

Of 78% of respondents who would go for a TV package where they chose their own channels, 70.7% chose ABC (DIS+1.5%); 70.1% went for CBS (CBS+0.3%); and 65.5% for NBC (CMCSA+0.7%). Those were followed by Discovery Channel (DISCA-0.6%; 62.1%) and History Channel (A&E, 59.7%). Only 56% would go for Fox (FOX+0.3%, FOXA+0.3%).

Respondents were unsurprisingly stingy with what they might pay for buffet-style TV, though: an average of about $1.50 for most of the channels in the top 10 (with PBS leading those, at $1.74). In sum, a combination of the top 10 channels in the survey would be worth $15.30 to viewers -- well under what they would charge as solo over-the-top operations.

Possible sticking points have emerged ahead of negotiations between CBS and Viacom (VIA, VIAB) about a potential merger, including who will be on the board of the combined company and what it would be called, sources told Reuters.

Many investors and observers believe a deal could be announced by the end of the year and that CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves will run the merged entity.

A decade ago, Sumner Redstone (who controls CBS and Viacom through family holding company National Amusements) decided to divide the two into separate companies, and while CBS has thrived, Viacom has wrestled with falling ratings and declining ad sales.

"I was never a great proponent of the split of the two companies," Shari said, adding that Viacom's fate could have turned out better with different leadership (i.e., not now-ousted chief Philippe Dauman).

While she and Sumner are supporting a merger, the companies "can stand on their own and be great," she said.

The companies, which originally merged in 2000 and split again at the beginning of 2006, had created special committees to look at the idea of getting back together as National Amusements -- the holding company for Sumner Redstone that owns voting control of both -- urged the two to examine a deal.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which has been longtime outside counsel for CBS, is also advising on a potential deal.

CBS (CBS+0.6%) is up another 2.3% after hours following a beat on top and bottom lines, in a season marked as much by speculation about a Viacom re-merger than its continuing strong results.

The company showed growth in profits and revenues across all segments. Revenues were up 4% overall, to $3.4B, as retransmission fees from affiliates grew 32%. Content licensing and distribution revenues were up 6%.